The grief has to end... I ran my race on Saturday, but I haven't gotten myself to write report until now. It is probably my biggest running disappointment so far. Objectively, it is not a disaster, but I was hoping for so much better.

Jailbreak IV 5K Race Report

Goal: 19:59

I arrived to the race quite early and I did a long warmup. My general feeling of being out of shape that had been haunting me the last few days stayed with me that morning. I ran around a bit on some trails close to the parking area, and I almost got lost... I arrived to the start line feeling better. I did some striders close to the start line. Finally, seven minutes before the start, I decided to get to the start line. This was a mistake for two reasons. By that time, the start area was very crowded, and I couldn't get close to the start line. (I had to spend the first quarter mile dodging people.) The other issue was that they started the race 2 minutes early, so there was only five minutes between my warmup and the start. Note to self: I have to get to the start earlier next time.

We were off, and then I tried not to trip over the slow people who started close to the front line (like the young lady with the small dog, and the elderly couple). After about a quarter mile, I spotted Alex from the RW forum (ColunbiaSC5ker), and I decided to try to follow him - he is faster than I, so if I can follow him, that should be good enough for me, even (or especially) if he doesn't run a PR. The first mile was slightly downhill, and I felt pretty strong, and also, my split was around 6:16, which was quite satisfactory. Maybe I actually started too fast.

I was hanging on in mile two, in fact I passed Alex at one point. I tried to push hard, somehow I missed the second mile clock, so I'm not sure about my split, but I was sill ahead of Alex and his time was 12:50, so I was still good. This part of course was quite hilly, and I started to really suffer on the inclines. Alex passed me back, along with a few other people, and then, within another quarter mile, I was done for. I was hot, in pain, and I felt like I would collapse at any second. Then I saw the finish line, and the finish clock was showing 19:5x, and I was still far away. I seriously had to talk myself out of quitting at this point, because I knew the sub-20 goal floated away. I crossed the line at 20:26.

The course was not easy, and the race conditions are not ideal, but I knew this before the race, and I still believed that I improved enough so that I can still run sub-20. Running teaches you humility. I was 5th place in my age group, which means no award - my extra punishment is that 20 minutes would have earned me a 3rd place.

This race reminds me too much the SC Peach Festival 5K last summer, where I tried to go sub-21 for the first time. I was good for two miles, and then I couldn't finish the job in the last downhill mile. I guess it is especially hard for me to run a race with a last hilly mile, but it is stupid to look for excuses - I simply wasn't good enough on Saturday.

The journey is not over. I will run a few races in the next few weeks, but I'm not exactly sure how it will work out with all my travels. Then I will most likely take a running break in July and start over in August. By that time, we will have moved to Kentucky. I will try to loose a few pounds to stabilize my weight under 160 lbs, I will do a full cycle of training per Pfitzinger, and I will try to kill my PR in November, in Kentucky.